Suhagraat. The legendary Indian tradition where the newly-weds are left alone in a room for the first time, to do what newly-weds are expected to do. The marriage, according to Bollywood, is in almost all cases consummated on the suhagraat itself.

Found this print advertisement for Femina magazine here. Probably from the early 2000s when Femina ran the “Generation W” campaign across the print media. Wonder which magazine(s) this particular ad appeared in?

Femina Generation W

A bride in her wedding attire and hands decorated with mehndi/henna. But with a difference. The mehndi/mehendi designs depict sexual positions from Vatsayana’s grand treatise. Perhaps to serve as a ready reckoner on the all-important night.

It doesn’t perhaps matter much that the mehndi designs show only 3819 of the 64 (the generally accepted number of positions described in the book). The newly-weds will not possibly able to try all of them out before the mehndi fades out. Or maybe they can. And maybe the remainder of the positions are on the back of the hand.

Had Vatsayana been alive today, he would’ve been the richest author on the planet (and not JK Rowling). Kamasutra is easily one of the bestselling books ever, ranking just below the religious texts.